For Fun Go Over the Hedge

Spring has sprung in DreamWorks Animation’s Over the Hedge, a cute and funny and smart and vibrantly animated movie that’s sure to appeal to both kids and adults just the same.

I know I liked it – a lot.

Since M:i:III is being touted a Tom Cruise disappointment, Poseidon pretty much sunk (and stunk), and The Da Vinci Code got mixed-to-bad buzz off its Cannes premiere, I’m guessing Over the Hedge is going to be this season’s first bona fide critical and commercial hit.

The movie follows the adventures of tortoise Verne and his woodland critter friends as they awaken from their long winter's nap…to discover that a tall, green "thing" has mysteriously cropped up right through the middle of their home.

Enter RJ (voiced by a terrific Bruce Willis), an opportunistic raccoon, who explains that the world beyond the hedge is the "gateway to the good life," where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live.

Suspicious and even a little jealous of RJ, the ever-cautious Verne (voiced by Garry Shandling) wants to keep his melting-pot family – which includes an overprotective possum and his daughter, a self-conscious skunk, and an ADD-addled squirrel – safely on their side of the hedge.

But, proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's – or rather animal's – treasure, the manipulative RJ tries to convince the band that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors. (RJ, of course, has an agenda of his own.)

Eventually, though, RJ and Verne form an unlikely friendship as they learn to co-exist with – and even exploit – this strange new world called suburbia.

As you can imagine, Over the Hedge is filled with messages for kids (family and friendship are important, as is honesty and teamwork) and adults (slow down, take a moment to enjoy what you have).

It is really quite easy to get over any of this because the woodland creature’s adventures as so amusing – there are hearty laughs for all.

Not to mention, the talent voicing them is tremendously entertaining – Wanda Sykes as Stella the skunk and Steve Carell (go The Office!) as Hammy the squirrel are especially noteworthy.

My Rating ****

Photo: DreamWorks Animation.